EDITOR'S NOTE: The screed by Sean Wilentz on New Republic can be found here http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116253/edward-snowden-glenn-greenwald-julian-assange-what-they-believe

So you thought progressives would rally 'round Edward Snowden's and Glenn Greenwald's crusade to rid us of the NSA incubus that's attached itself to our computers and our daily lives. Well, you were wrong: dead wrong.

With a few notable exceptions, the "progressive" media matrix – the lefty pundits, thinktanks, academics, and activists who make up the Democratic party’s core intellectual constituency -- have reacted to the Snowden revelations with hysterical denunciations, not of the government but of the leaker: the hate emanating from the MSNBC studios is hot enough to burn if you get too close to your television.

And it’s not just the pundits: Norman Solomon rightly called the response from progressive Democrats in Congress "murky," and that’s certainly an understatement.